In recent years, with advancements in genetic research, biochips are frequently used to perform numerous simultaneous biochemical reactions. A biochip usually includes hundreds or thousands of bio-sensing spots (i.e., biosensors) that are arranged in a microarray, and the bio-sensing spots contain, e.g., deoxyribonucleic acid or proteins therein.
A conventional printing apparatus for making biochips usually includes a platform, a pipet module and a manipulator. The platform is for supporting thereon a substrate to be processed and turned into a biochip. The pipet module contains solution sample therein. The manipulator supports the pipet module and is configured to drive movements of the pipet module in three dimensions.
In a conventional process for making a biochip, a substrate is manually placed on the platform at a predetermined position, then the manipulator is controlled to bring the pipet module to move to a position where the pipet module is expected to be aligned with a to-be-printed point on the substrate and to move toward the chip, and the pipet module is driven to discharge a droplet of the solution sample onto the to-be-printed point to form a bio-sensing spot. By repeating the abovementioned operations, a biochip having a microarray of the bio-sensing spots thereon can be made from the chip.
However, since the substrate is placed on the platform manually, a yield rate of making biochip with the conventional process may drop if the substrate is not positioned accurately on the platform and deviates from the predetermined position. Further, when the solution sample contained in the pipet module has bubbles, an amount of the solution sample discharged from the pipet module onto the to-be-printed point may be insufficient to make a good bio-sensing spot that can perform the biochemical reaction normally, and the yield rate may also drop accordingly.